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Yet again, Dublin, Texas, is losing its signature soda

This time it's not Dr Pepper that's disappearing off shelves, but a suspiciously similar soda called Dublin Original.

Dublin Original soda by Dublin Bottling Works for sale inside the GO TEXAN Pavilion at the State Fair of Texas at Fair Park in Dallas on Oct. 4, 2016. Following recent press coverage, the company has decided to stop producing the drink, which tastes similar to Dr Pepper. (Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News)(Staff Photographer)

This time, it's not Dr Pepper that's disappearing off shelves, but a suspiciously similar soda called Dublin Original.

Jeff Kloster, owner of Dublin Bottling Works, looks over one of the last bottles of Dr Pepper produced in Dublin. (2012 File Photo/The Associated Press)

Plant owner Jeff Kloster said the decision was made in early March, after an article in The Dallas Morning News highlighted the new beverage's resemblance to the historic Dublin Dr Pepper.

"Before that, it was kind of under the radar," Kloster said of the drinks' similarities. "We made the internal decision. I did not want to go through another situation with those folks."

In 2011, Dr Pepper Snapple Group sued the Dublin company, claiming it was diluting the Dr Pepper brand by printing "Dublin" prominently on bottles. The Plano-based corporation also contended the small plant violated its contract by selling online, outside a six-county distribution area about two hours southwest of Dallas. The suit was settled in 2012, when the Dublin company agreed to not make any more Dr Pepper or anything like it.

Dublin Bottling Works continued to produce a collection of craft sodas made with Texas' Imperial Pure Cane Sugar, just like Dublin's Dr Pepper product once was. One of those sodas was a black cherry flavor, later renamed Dublin Original, which was made with 24 flavors instead of Dr Pepper's 23.

At the bottling plant's soda shop in Dublin, at the State Fair of Texas, on historic tours and elsewhere, Dublin employees were careful not to call their drink "Dr Pepper," but were not shy about alluding to the beverage's historic roots.

Ask for a Dr Pepper, and the response was routine and coy: "We don't have a knock-off Dr Pepper, but you ought to try our Dublin Original. It's really good, and I know you'll love it."

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Kloster said it was a conscious marketing decision to offer customers who loved Dr Pepper a nostalgic product that looked and tasted similar. Even the bottle was packaged with stripes from a retro Dr Pepper color scheme and a "DDP" on the label.

"It got out of hand. We got out there and we pushed the envelope," Kloster said. "The Dublin Original black cherry was pushing the envelope and was in violation of the agreement."

Chris Barnes, a spokesman for Dr Pepper Snapple Group, said there was no new legal action taken, but after The News story ran, the company did call the Dublin plant to remind it of the terms of the 2012 agreement.

"As part of the settlement of our dispute with Dublin Bottling Works in 2012, the Klosters decided to sell their distribution territory and agreed to not develop or market a soft drink that in any way imitates Dr Pepper," Barnes said. "They have told us that they will discontinue it."

Kloster said he wrote to Dr Pepper, apologizing for the drink's similarities and assuring the company that any remaining Dublin Original in the warehouse would be destroyed.

Since the 2012 settlement, Dublin Bottling Works has produced craft sodas including classics like grape, orange and cream soda as well as more exotic flavors like Sweet Peach and Fru-Fru Berry. Those flavors, and new ones coming out this summer, will stay in production.

Dublin Original wasn't even its best-seller, Kloster said. Vanilla cream and root beer flavors brought in the most revenue.

But it was Dublin Original that led the company's marketing. A huge, decorative Dublin Original bottle recently was installed at the bottling plant where a Dr Pepper can once stood.

A statue of W. P. "Bill" Kloster handing a Dr Pepper to a girl, titled The Inspiration, stands in front of the old bottling business he owned in Dublin. (Guy Reynolds/Staff Photographer)

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"It was a hard, hard, hard, hard decision. We were starting to feel good," Kloster said. "We've got to let it go, and it's hard, man."

The News story focused not only on Dublin Bottling Works, but what it meant for the town five years after Dr Pepper left. Dublin was synonymous with the Waco-born beverage for over a century.

Kloster said he was thankful for the publicity, but that the story had the side effect of highlighting what he called a risky marketing strategy with Dublin Original.

"Now the cat's out of the bag," Kloster said. "We were putting a beverage out that, yes, was like Dr Pepper."

Kloster said the few bottles already in distribution will not be recalled, so Dublin Original will remain on shelves at select retailers until they sell out.

The decision to pull Dublin Original was a pre-emptive one, Kloster said. The company couldn't afford another big lawsuit, he said, and it was better to get rid of one beverage rather than risk the whole company.

For Kloster, it's a family responsibility. The plant has been in the hands of the Klosters for generations. Jeff Kloster is just the latest in his family to have ownership of the facility. A statue of his grandfather, W.P. Kloster, still stands outside the plant.

That history was why the company tried to continue making a similar drink for nostalgic customers, but Kloster said preserving the Dublin legacy is much more important than hanging on to their Dr Pepper past.

"When we lost Dr Pepper, it was a huge blow to not only our company, but the city of Dublin," Kloster said. "I walk past my grandpa's statue every day. By God, not on my watch is it going in the trash."

Charles Scudder, Staff writer. Charlie Scudder covers suburban safety and has been a reporter on the features and news desks for five years. He's also an adjunct professor at UNT's Mayborn School of Journalism. Raised in Colleyville, he is a graduate of both Southern Methodist University and Indiana University.